Skadi, I Have a Girlfriend

Mizuki turned off the stove. He had said it loudly enough for Exusiai to hear, and she froze for a moment before silently preparing to leave the kitchen doorway.

Skadi tilted her head slightly, puffing out her cheeks in displeasure. She remained silent, but for some reason, some emotion seemed to be brewing inside her.

"Would you like to explain what's going on with that girlfriend of yours named Muelsyse?"

"!?"

The halo above Exusiai's head lit up instantly, and her expression immediately turned serious and dark. Forgetting Skadi was even there, she charged straight into the kitchen.

"You found another woman outside?"

Grabbing Mizuki by the arm, Exusiai's gaze was especially sharp. She was already upset enough. If Mizuki could not give her an explanation, then tonight they would... would sleep in separate rooms!

"What are you talking about?"

Skadi could not help rolling her eyes at Exusiai.

"You're the one he found later."

"Huh?"

The Seductive Snake Is Here~

"It feels like a lot happened today."

It was already late at night. Since Skadi and Mizuki had reunited as siblings, and there was still information everyone needed to exchange, Kal'tsit and Ch'en simply stayed for dinner as well.

Yet when Ch'en saw the table full of dishes, several huge question marks still popped into her head.

For example: Could this stuff be eaten? Penguin Logistics actually ate this kind of thing? Was Penguin Logistics collectively prone to intermittent insanity because they ate this stuff?

However, as a doctor who had lived long enough and seen enough, Kal'tsit could tell these dishes were anything but ordinary. Though they all had the sort of appearance that made people lose their appetite at a glance, the ingredients' original vitality and nutrients had somehow all been preserved.

"Do you usually eat this?"

"Yeah. It looks a little strange, but it tastes great."

After spending the past few days together, the Penguin Logistics girls had completely accepted Mizuki's bizarre-looking dishes. They genuinely tasted good, and after eating more of them, everyone felt healthier too. Sora's diet had even started showing results.

"Here, Chief Chen, have a piece of ribs."

"..."

Looking at the rib in her bowl, purple to the point of blackness and even giving off a bewitching blue sheen under the lights, Ch'en had the illusion that it was still alive.

But when she looked around, aside from the Penguin Logistics girls, Laurentina also seemed completely unconcerned about the dishes' appearance, eating with perfect elegance.

As for Skadi? She had practically transformed into a merciless eating machine. She just kept eating and eating, as if she wanted to swallow the plates, chopsticks, and every other utensil along with the food.

Even Kal'tsit seemed deeply engrossed in her meal. Ch'en suddenly felt that she might be the most abnormal person at the table. Could this stuff really be eaten?

"What's wrong, Chief Chen? Doesn't it suit your taste?"

"...I may need some time to get used to it."

Ch'en did not know what to say. Kal'tsit merely gave her a small nod, indicating that the meal was indeed not poisoned and was edible.

Everyone else was eating so happily, and Mizuki was looking at her expectantly. Ch'en could not very well refuse to use her chopsticks, so she pressed her lips together and took a bite of the rib.

It was as if she heard a crackle. Ch'en tasted life exploding in her mouth. It was clearly just a fried rib, yet it possessed a flavor impossible to describe with words.

It was not greasy, nor did it have the strange texture she had imagined. If anything, it was exceptionally delicious—so delicious that Ch'en could not help picking up another piece.

As for Mizuki? Honestly, apart from both being Aegir, the only things that made him and Skadi look like siblings were probably their clothing colors and appetites. But compared with Skadi's ravenous eating, Mizuki appeared far more refined.

"By the way, Mizuki has a girlfriend named Muelsyse?"

Eating in silence was boring, so Croissant started the conversation. Everyone had heard what happened in the kitchen earlier, but considering Mizuki had lost his memories, they could not exactly blame him for it.

Besides, from the looks of things, Mizuki was genuinely devoted to Exusiai. He did not seem like some scumbag.

"I don't approve!"

"Me neither!"

Exusiai and Skadi, who had been at each other's throats earlier, were now remarkably united. Skadi especially had no doubt that Muelsyse was a formidable enemy. Her girlfriend power was simply too terrifying.

"But I don't remember anything about her."

Mizuki's tentacles shot out from beneath his hat, lifting it off and scratching his head for him. To everyone except Kal'tsit, though, it simply looked like the hat had floated up on its own. Kal'tsit could see those tentacles only because of the other monster inside her.

"Of course not. Mizuki does not even remember me, his sister. How could he possibly remember that woman?"

Seeing Skadi's proud expression, Kal'tsit still decided not to mention that Mizuki seemed to remember the Doctor. But Muelsyse? That name sounded familiar.

"Muelsyse, head of Rhine Lab Ecological Section. I met her once at Rhodes Island."

"Rhine Lab from Columbia?"

At the mention of Columbia, an inescapable darkness filled the Penguin Logistics girls' eyes. They wanted nothing more than to strangle those people. If Skadi knew what the people of Columbia had done to her brother, she would not be sitting here eating so calmly.

Yet they also felt a faint sense of relief. Meeting Mizuki had been something worth celebrating. He had brought Penguin Logistics plenty of happiness, and changed the girls' lives in many ways.

"Mm. She probably does not have much to do with what happened to Mizuki. She may be looking for him too, right, Skadi?"

"...More or less."

Skadi acknowledged Kal'tsit's guess, but could not be bothered to say anything else. She turned her dissatisfaction into appetite. When she saw Mizuki pick up a piece of multicolored braised pork to feed Exusiai, she rudely opened her mouth and bit straight into it, stealing the food from her.

Exusiai was so angry her teeth itched. She nearly snapped her chopsticks in half. Watching this, Mizuki bit down on his chopsticks and sighed inwardly. He would probably have to spend even more time soothing Exusiai in the future.

"But even if Mizuki doesn't remember her, she must still like him, right? If she finds out he lost his memories and then... she might be very sad."

Sora had watched plenty of dramas and was rather emotional. Just thinking about that possibility made her sigh. It was as though Mizuki was trapped in the middle, unable to do anything right. His amnesia was truly awful.

"Let her be. I'm not letting go anyway."

Exusiai moved her chair closer to Mizuki. She had already given herself to him, and she truly loved him. There was no way she would ever let go!

Laurentina, on the other hand, might have been somewhat mentally unstable, but her ability to think was still normal. After roughly understanding Mizuki's situation, she gently bit her finger.

"Why worry about something like that? Wouldn't it be better if Master had more partners?"

The entire dining table fell silent at those words. Only the faint sounds of Mizuki eating could be heard. Seeming to notice everyone's strange reactions, Mizuki raised his head and finally realized what Laurentina had just said.

But before Exusiai and Skadi could react, someone knocked on Penguin Logistics' door. The two girls could only shoot Mizuki looks.

Realizing the situation seemed somewhat dire, Mizuki jumped off his stool with a rib in his mouth and ran to the door, wondering whether someone wanted to hire Penguin Logistics to deliver something.

Yet when he opened the door, there was only one person outside: Ho'olheyak, who had finally made it to Lungmen.

"Um, do you have a delivery request?"

Mizuki asked with the rib still in his mouth. Ho'olheyak did not answer immediately. She merely stroked her chin and studied Mizuki with interest.

"Hmm... I'd like to ask whether you offer matchmaking services. I think you suit my tastes quite well."

"Huh?"

Hearing that question, Mizuki made the same sound Exusiai had at the end of the previous chapter. Then he quickly realized something was wrong. To keep Exusiai and Skadi from hearing and tearing this home apart too, he hurriedly shook his head.

"We're a logistics company, and I already have a girlfriend."

"What does that matter? Having a girlfriend doesn't stop you from having another wife. Don't worry, I'm not here to destroy this family. I'm here to join it."

Ho'olheyak licked her lips. Of course, she was only teasing Mizuki. Still, she really could sense an unprecedentedly immense vitality from him. As someone who could only live forty or fifty years, she yearned for that life force.

"Please... come in?"

Mizuki had originally wanted to tell her to leave, but Ho'olheyak took out a letter bearing Penguin Logistics' emblem.

"See? I told you I was here to join this family."

Ho'olheyak's eyes curved as she smiled brightly. Mizuki merely felt that today might become a day he would never forget for the rest of his life. From today onward, his life might become a little less peaceful.

Ho'olheyak's Little Scheme

"Someone the boss recommended..."

Texas held a chocolate stick between her lips as she looked at Ho'olheyak. No matter how she looked at her, she did not seem like a good person. Ho'olheyak's smile was simply too seductive, more like that of a fox spirit.

"It really is the boss's seal, but what's with this recommendation?"

Sora flipped through Emperor's letter of recommendation. There were only a few lines written on it.

[This woman is joining Penguin Logistics as a temp starting today, don't show me any respect, beat her up!]

"Have her join Penguin Logistics, then tell us to beat her up?"

Since she had not heard Mizuki and Ho'olheyak's conversation at the door, Exusiai was thoroughly confused by the letter's contents. If she had known what they discussed outside, forget Emperor telling her to beat Ho'olheyak up—she and Skadi would likely have killed Ho'olheyak on the spot.

"Looks like the boss has things he can't really say either."

Croissant took it in stride and was not worried that the letter was forged at all. Handwriting aside, that was absolutely something Emperor would say.

Besides the girls and Mizuki, whose situation was special, it was hard to imagine anyone choosing to join Penguin Logistics. Was their life too happy, so they needed some excitement?

"Still, gaining two new people in less than a week is unexpected. Hmm, a Columbian?"

When they saw that line on Ho'olheyak's file, everyone except Ch'en and Kal'tsit looked at Ho'olheyak with extremely complicated expressions.

Joining Penguin Logistics at this time, coming from Columbia, and being introduced by Emperor—it was easy enough to guess why Ho'olheyak had come. Without even thinking, Exusiai shielded her boyfriend behind her, completely ignoring the fact that Mizuki seemed more capable of fighting than she was.

"Don't be so tense. I have no ill intentions. My superior arranged it this way, and as an employee, I do not have much room to resist, do I?"

Ho'olheyak had never planned to disguise herself as some harmless passerby. Tin Man had told her that the best way to blend into Penguin Logistics was not to pretend. Be honest. It did not matter if she brought up Mizuki's situation. Most of it was the military's fault anyway, and the Melnade Foundation probably would not provoke Mizuki's hostility.

Kal'tsit ate while observing Ho'olheyak. She knew the woman's background: a member of Columbia's Feathered Serpent Clan, and a pitiful person as well. From birth, Ho'olheyak had been implanted with a vast number of memories. That doomed her to a short life, but it had also shaped her somewhat twisted personality. In any case, based on Kal'tsit's dealings with them over the years, the Feathered Serpent Clan had only two main goals.

First, to restore the family's former strength. The Feathered Serpent Clan's ancestors had once been able to stir the winds and clouds at will, summoning storms.

Second, because their lives were short, they needed to marry and have children as early as possible to ensure the clan's continuation. Their standard for choosing partners was strong vitality and the ability to produce as many descendants as possible.

So... whether or not she had come for Mizuki, Ho'olheyak might already have other plans for him now.

"Since it's a letter of recommendation from the boss, there shouldn't be any problem, right?"

"I texted Eis. He said this woman does count as someone the boss recommended, and that her identity is somewhat tied to a certain Columbian faction."

Croissant confirmed Ho'olheyak's identity. The girls were nowhere near as welcoming toward her as they had been toward Mizuki. Mizuki was so cute, capable in every way, and had become entangled with Penguin Logistics because of the case.

As for Ho'olheyak? None of them were ordinary people. There was only one impression she gave them: dangerous.

Mizuki thought she was dangerous too. Of course, not because she threatened his personal safety. In fact, even now, he had not sensed anyone with enough danger to threaten his life. He simply felt that after Ho'olheyak arrived, his days might not be so easy.

"You came because of me?"

"Yes."

Ho'olheyak behaved very obediently, because she had discovered a problem: she did not seem able to beat either Skadi or Laurentina. Whenever Skadi and Laurentina looked at her with cold or gentle eyes, she felt as though the god of death were beckoning her.

"I belong to Columbia's Melnade Foundation. My purpose in joining Penguin Logistics is to observe Mizuki—E001—at close range."

"E001?"

Exusiai instinctively protected Mizuki. Hearing that Ho'olheyak had come for her boyfriend, she suddenly felt the urge to pull out her gun and unload an entire magazine into the woman.

"The Columbia military's codename for him."

Ho'olheyak obediently dumped all the blame on Columbia's military. Though the Melnade Foundation had also participated in the matter, it had not played too villainous a role. They had far more concerns than the military did.

"Fifteen days ago, a Columbian expedition team made up of adventurers and scientists headed to the northern snowfields, intending to explore a region no one had ever set foot in. But after returning from that expedition, every one of them fell into madness and confusion."

"According to the doctors, they suffered a psychological shock that caused irreparable damage."

As she spoke, Ho'olheyak could not help glancing at Mizuki. She felt that expedition team probably had not seen him. Otherwise, how could they have been frightened into that state? Mizuki looked so harmless.

"The military sent people to investigate the area they had entered. The Melnade Foundation does not know what they found, but one thing is certain: Mizuki was their greatest and most important gain from that operation. They desperately wanted to bring Mizuki back to Columbia, but Ursus also discovered this, and the two sides clashed. The Melnade Foundation became involved as well."

"So the military got tied up by both sides and ultimately chose to have us transport the cargo?"

"That's right."

"But wait, isn't your Melnade Foundation also from Columbia? Why would you oppose the military?"

Listening in, Ch'en had more or less figured out why Lungmen had been so chaotic recently. Ursus and the Columbian military simply did not care about Wei Yenwu's opinion. Even Wei Yenwu could not make a move against either side over these matters without solid evidence.

"To put it the way you Great Yan people would, you and your sister fell in love with the same person. It would be stranger if there weren't conflicts."

It was an unexpectedly plain but reasonable explanation. Texas awkwardly shifted her gaze away, not daring to look at Exusiai.

Ho'olheyak's arrival had been unexpected, but she had honestly explained her purpose, which let Texas and the others relax somewhat. It would have been truly troublesome if Ho'olheyak had ulterior motives. As things stood, they could only listen to Emperor and temporarily accept Ho'olheyak into Penguin Logistics.

However, monitoring Mizuki was business. Now that she had seen Mizuki in person, other thoughts could not help surfacing in Ho'olheyak's mind.